


The Hunted

by Paycheckgurl



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: Case Fic, EU characters - Freeform, F/M, Killed Off EU characters, M/M, Murder, Murder Mystery, Non-Canonical Character Death, Post-Season/Series 02, Torchwood Fanfests Halloween, canon typical violence (Torchwood), hunted or haunted, obscure former companions, post series 2 torchwood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 11,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27208231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paycheckgurl/pseuds/Paycheckgurl
Summary: There’s been a small pattern of murders across Cardiff and London. The pattern: all the victims have met a particular Time Lord. Who’s behind it, and what’s their endgame?Written for Torchwood Fanfests Halloween Fest: Hunted or Haunted
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Martha Jones/Mickey Smith
Comments: 21
Kudos: 52
Collections: Torchwood Fan Fests: Halloween Fest 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fills the “Hunted or Haunted” prompt for Torchwood Fanfests

As Ianto Jones, Gwen Cooper, and Jack Harkness strolled into the crime scene on the Plass, Jack’s greatcoat swung dramatically in the Cardiff winds, and the usual mutterings of “not Bloody Torchwood” could be heard among the gathered uniform police. 

PC Andy Davidson stood there and waited for them. 

“Honestly, I don’t think this is one for you lot,” said Andy. “Looks like a pretty normal bunch of bullet wounds to me; not a phaser to be seen.” 

“Nice to see you as always, Andy,” chirped Gwen brightly to her former partner. “We’ll be the judge of that though.” 

“Right. Well, Gwen if you ever have any openings…”

It was a familiar routine at this point, and on some level Andy had to suspect that the answer wasn’t going to be anything but what it always was “not exactly hiring on anyone from the police at the moment, Andy.” Not that it kept the man from trying. Andy Davidson was nothing if not persistent. 

Gwen made her way over Ianto and Jack, who stood over the body. The victim was an older woman. She had to have been in her eighties. The strangeness of an elderly woman being seemingly shot dead by a few rounds wasn’t lost on her; the victim didn’t seem to fit any profiles Gwen could think of. 

“Find anything?” she asked. 

“Our favorite PC might actually be right about this one,” said Jack. “I’m not sure who’s going around Cardiff shooting little old ladies, but they’re doing it with completely human bullets. We shouldn’t make a habit of it, but unless the ID unveils something Earth shattering we should turn this one back over to Cardiff’s Finest. Speaking of, Ianto?” 

“Looks like we’ve got a wallet in the handbag,” said Ianto. “And ahhhh. There it is, driver’s license. Looks like our friend here is...oh interesting. American. Must have been here on holiday. Cassandra Rice of Roswell, New Mexico.” He dug through a few more of the cards. “Goes by Cassie judging by the name on the library card here.” 

“Roswell?” asked Gwen. “As in the UFO town, the one that they made that TV show about?” 

“Hmmm tad ironic really,” said Ianto. “But I don’t think the victim being a tourist from a famous alien enthusiast hub is quite enough for us to lay claim to this.” 

“Jack?” asked Gwen. 

Jack stood silently, looking up to the sky, lost in thought. 

“Cassie Rice. Why does that name sound familiar?” 

A name on the tip of Jack’s tongue still wasn’t enough to justify hauling the body back to the Hub, especially since they’d been down a full time autopsy expert for so long, so the team went on their way. But the familiarity of the victim’s name continued to bothered him. Once back at the hub Jack absentmindedly typed the name into the Mainframe system. 

Cassie Rice of Roswell, New Mexico popped up. Jack took one look at the relevant file, and nearly spit out his coffee. 

“Oh shit,” he said aloud. 

Cassandra “Cassie” Rice. Never married, although she was noted to have lived with her long time, female roommate of many years. Jack had had many male “roommates” in his time and had a guess as to what the relationship was there. That wasn’t the interesting part of the story, though. The interesting part was that Cassie was a known associate of the Doctor. 

It was strange. That one of the Doctor's friends would turn up dead, murdered, in his city. That a diner owner from the deserts of New Mexico would turn up across the pond in Cardiff of all places. That a little old lady was traveling, presumably alone, and would get shot multiple times in broad daylight. In the middle of what was normally the relatively safe tourist hub of Ronald Dahl Plass. 

Did her “roommate” know about the murder? Had she been traveling with her too? 

Jack got up and paced for a second. It was strange, and his instincts were telling him that it wasn’t adding up. But it wasn’t as if Cassie was a full on Companion. According to the files he had Cassie was never known to have traveled in time and simply assisted the Doctor in a situation involving, what else, Area 51. He knew the name because he’d come across in his usual Doctor tab keeping files. Jack pushed it all out of his mind. Coincidence. That’s all it was. 

Right...coincidence. But maybe a coincidence he was going to keep in the forefront of his mind. 


	2. Chapter 2

The video call from Mr. Smith came in at noon the next day. Gwen and Ianto were busy on the rift monitoring software, but the three of them stopped short when the call came through. 

Since the Earth Moving incident, Sarah Jane’s strict embargo against all things Torchwood had evaporated some — although her calls were always over the phone, and usually to Jack exclusively. Her merry band of school kids was noticeably still absent from them. Her ringing using Mr. Smith was new, and why the call had pinged their attention.

“Sarah Jane Smith,” called Jack brightly, as her image came up on screen, just as it had on the subwave months prior. Gwen and Ianto were just barely in frame, and both gave her a little wave. 

“Hello, Captain,” she said. “Gwen, Ianto. Unfortunately, this isn’t a social call.” 

“Had a feeling that might be the case,” said Jack. “What’s up?” 

Sarah Jane sighed visibly. “It might be nothing. Well not, nothing — but nothing worth troubling you lot over. I was working on a story involving the local police this morning, and I think I accidentally stumbled onto something.” 

“I would expect nothing less,” said Jack. “But why rope us in on it?”

“Jack, have you ever met a man called Will Arrowsmith? A former UNIT science officer?”

Jack’s expression was a little blank. He looked like he was trying to piece something together. 

Ianto piped in “That is a really amazing name. A bit like being called Joe Led Zeppelin.” 

“I’ve heard of him,” said Jack, finally. “Never met him in person, but I’ve read about him in some of my files.” 

Sarah Jane breathed in slowly. “I found out at the police station today that he’s been murdered. Shot.” 

Jack felt his mouth open in shock. 

“He was a Companion, wasn’t he?” He said, slowly. 

“He...he was. To the Doctor’s Sixth generation. I’d never met him myself either, but my contacts at UNIT always spoke fondly of him. Soft spoken, not predisposed for action the way a lot of the current crop of UNIT are...just a genuinely nice, mild mannered, and trusting man. A true scientist trying to better humanity.” 

“I’m sorry,” said Gwen. “He sounds like he was a lovely person. But why phone us and not UNIT, if he was one of their own?” 

“I don’t exactly trust the current UNIT regime,” said Sarah Jane. “Some old friends that are still there, aside. But even more than that, the Doctor’s Companions, we tend to be capable people. Not all of us make a habit of investigating the way Jack and I do after our time with the Doctor, but to travel with the Doctor you have to have a certain level of well, I guess tenacity would be the right word.”

“And for someone to randomly gun a typically “tenanous” Companion, especially in  _ London  _ of all places _ , _ something doesn’t sit right.” Jack concluded. “There’s something you should know. We got a possible rift alert yesterday that coincided with a murder call…”

Jack filled Sarah Jane in on what they found at the scene, and the strange facts of the case, including Cassie’s identity.

“Something seems off about this,” said Jack. “Two friends of the Doctor turning up dead isn’t exactly a pattern yet, especially in two different countries. But it’s more than enough that I’m pretty concerned.” 

Ianto stopped cold. “You don’t think that’s what this is, right? That someone is going around, gunning down Companions?” 

Gwen’s eyes went wide. “A serial killer for time travelers.” 

“We don’t know that yet,” said Jack, quickly. “And from what I read, strictly speaking our vic, Cassie, never traveled through time - just spent some time with some aliens (one of whom happened to be the Doctor).” 

“If the criteria ‘spent some time with some aliens’, wouldn’t that put Gwen and me on the list of possible targets too?” asked Ianto.

“Look,” said Sarah Jane. “If people are getting murdered  _ with guns _ , I can’t be a part of it. Not with the kids present. Not with Luke. I take a lot of risks in this line of work, but there’s a reason I’m phoning you now, while the children are still in school. They can’t know about this and they absolutely cannot get mixed up in it. I’ll run data retrieval with Mr. Smith but if someone is targeting  _ us,”  _ she looked significantly at Jack, “my son needs to be as far away from it as possible.” 

Jack nodded. “Believe me, I understand that. Sarah Jane, I know you can handle yourself just...stay safe.” 

She smiled. “You too, Jack. Just because you happen to be bulletproof doesn’t mean that on the off chance that someone is after us, all of us, that you shouldn’t take a bit of caution. I’ll have Mr. Smith goes through my list of known associates of the Doctor and see if there’s anything else that pings as suspicious.” 

He gave her a small scout salute in response, before giving orders. “Ianto, send Sarah Jane the files we have on friends of the Doctor. We probably have about the same information we’re working off of, but just in case either side has some holes in their data. Most of it is encrypted, you’ll need my access codes to open them and send them off. Gwen, it looks like Cassie Rice might have had a partner. See if you can find a contact for her and if we can figure out why she was in town in the first place.” 

They both nodded. “I’ll call Martha,” said Jack. “If someone is targeting Companions, she and Mickey ought to know. And she’s still got the Doctor’s mobile. I have my doubts he’ll actually pick up, but I think it’s safe to say this concerns him.” 

He looked straight into the monitor. “Sarah Jane,” said Jack. “We’ll talk soon.” 


	3. Chapter 3

Jack stood atop the opera house and his greatcoat swayed in the wind. Martha hadn’t answered yet, so instead he took the time to look at the city below him and think outside the confines of the hub. 

It was entirely possible that Mr. Smith would turn up nothing. There was no pattern, just two seperate murders that happened to feature victims that had the same friend in common. 

Jack believed in possibilities, but he was becoming more skeptical of coincidence by the hour. 

He heard a click, and saw the roof access staircase had opened. Ianto walked out. 

“Figured I’d find you up here,” he said. “Tosh and I used to joke that you’d bring us all up here when you recruited us for the sake of showing off.” 

It was getting to the point where they could talk about their friends like this without their deaths stinging as much it had. It would always still sting, it always did, but it was a different kind of less immediate hurt. 

“It helps me think,” said Jack. “The showing off is just a fringe benefit.” 

“I know,” said Ianto. As he was so very adept at doing, Ianto silently moved to stand next Jack. 

“Are you...alright?” Ianto asked. 

“Kind of a loaded question.” 

“I mean with all of this.”

“I don’t  _ trust _ all of this,” said Jack. “Worst case is someone’s trying to murder my best friend’s friends, a group that happens to include people I care about very much, and best case what...two people are dead in unrelated cases of violent murder? There’s got to be more to this. I just…”

Ianto looped his hand into Jack’s.

“I know you told Sarah Jane you’d be careful. That’s something I’ve literally never seen you do, so I apologise if I’m a little skeptical.” 

Jack chuckled mirthlessly at that. 

“So promise me, Jack. Promise me that if someone is after you...just because you can’t die, doesn’t mean that someone can’t  _ hurt _ you. I just hate seeing it. Just promise me you’ll try not to get hurt in all this.”

Jack brought him in closer. 

“If whoever’s doing this goes after you I can’t exactly make that promise,” said Jack. 

Ianto looked up at him. “Jack…”

“I’ll be careful, just if someone is targeting my friends and loved ones, they’re going to wish they weren’t. Ianto, I care way too much about you not to take a dumb risk if it means keeping  _ you _ safe.” 

Ianto cupped his hands on Jack's face, bringing it close to his. They kissed, atop the Cardiff skyline. 

* * *

The two went down the invisible lift together and rejoined Gwen in the hub. Jack clapped his hands together. 

“Alright Gwen, what’s the word?”

“The widow was a dead end; Cassie’s partner Marjorie passed five years ago. I was able to get a hold of an old friend of hers though — Jimmy Stalkingwolf.” 

“Also a member of the great name club,” said Ianto. 

“He’s the chief of the local Native American tribe near the family diner Cassie owned, and more to the point, helped her and the Doctor during their original meeting,” said Gwen. “Even better, he was able to tell me why she was in town. Apparently, she won a free trip around the UK. Expenses paid. She was supposed to have been making her way to a tour of Cardiff Castle the day of the murder.” 

“I’m not sure about anyone else, but I tend to find free trips pretty suspicious,” said Ianto. “We certainly use that one as a cover up enough.” 

“We should keep an eye on Chief Stalkingwolf,” said Jack. “If they targeted Cassie for the reason we think they did he might be in danger.”

She nodded. “I let some of Martha’s American based UNIT contacts know. Last time she popped in on us she left us that handy list of UNIT folks worth trusting off the official register — distressingly short in the grand scheme of things if you think of it. Speaking of, did you have any luck calling her earlier, Jack?”

“Straight to voicemail. Mickey too.” 

Gwen sighed. “I guess that’s what happens when you go off the grid.” 

Jack’s mobile began to ring. “Oh wait hold on, there she is.” He answered the call. “Voice of a Nightingale. Good to finally get a hold of you Martha.” 

“Jack, we’re coming to Cardiff.” Said Martha bluntly. 

Jack frowned. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why don’t I have a good feeling about this?” 

“We’ll fill you in when we get here. I’m in London at my mum’s...leaving tonight. Just...can you pull a file for me? It’s on a murder victim. Her name is Jennifer Wilson. I know the name’s common, but it’d be a police report from a murder last night round the corner from my mum’s place.” 

Jack breathed in slowly. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.” 

“We kind of stumbled onto the scene and were passersbys...but Jack. I think she was wearing a Tardis key.” 


	4. Chapter 4

“The file on this woman is absolute rubbish,” announced Gwen. 

“Does it say which regeneration of the Doctor she traveled with?” asked Jack. 

“I want to say no, but the actual answer might actually be  _ worse _ . Looks like someone thought it was the third or fourth and then they realized they were wrong. How do you confuse that version of him? That bloody scarf…Anyways I’ve got a name, Jenny Wilson (which might just be a maiden name now I think about it), the name of the other human friend she traveled with, and an out of date childhood address.”

Ianto looked exasperated. “Torchwood’s original charter was only concerned with protecting the Empire from the Doctor, and Jack, you spend 100 years trying to track him back down. How is the file so sparse?!”

“Hey! The Doctor’s had a lot of companions over the years and literally changes his entire face every hundred years or so. Keeping tabs on him and the Companions is  _ hard. _ And at least until I took over anyways, UNIT was very blatantly playing keep away from us with their intel.”

“Hmmm you mean the organization that had the Doctor on payroll was trying to keep information on him from the organization Queen Victoria set up to, what was it? Capture him? Murder him?” said Ianto dourly. “Wonder why that was?” 

“Yeah, yeah,” said Jack. “UNIT started playing a bit nicer once I finally got to be head, I guess it helped they had a file on me the size of a Harry Potter novel with the word Companion stamped on it...and by that point there were only what, six of us including ‘ole Archie?”

“Hmm,” said Gwen accusingly. “And I’m guessing the lack of intel Torchwood had initially had nothing to do with a certain long standing employee sabotaging the effort.” 

“I don’t like when people want to hurt my friends,” said Jack. “If Torchwood wanted to keep me around as their undying pet, then I was going to classify some records that were maybe a bit above me at the time and skim on some reports regarding Enemy One.” 

“Except now the tables have turned and we’re suffering for it,” said Gwen. “I’ll ring Sarah Jane and see if that Mr. Smith of hers has pinged anything about this woman. We’ve got the childhood friend’s name too so I guess I can try to ring him as well...” 

“Assuming whoever’s doing this hasn’t got him too,” Ianto said darkly. 

Ianto looked down at the security footage of the Tourist Information Centre. 

“Looks like our friends have arrived,” he announced. “I’ll go up and show them in.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Arrowsmith is from the 6th Doctor audio adventures (I have not listened to them personality and relied on info from the wiki). He seems like a pretty cool dude and my apologies for...killing him dead. 
> 
> Cassie Rice and Jimmy Stackingwolf are from the animated special Dreamland. I embellished Cassie’s probable Post-Dreamland life a bit to make her fit in with the Torchwood narrative rule of “there are no straight people.” 
> 
> And finally Jenny Wilson is from a Doctor Who stage play that later got remade into an audio drama. In the play the Doctor regenerates from the 3rd Doctor into an OC version of the 4th (Tom Baker had not been cast in the show yet), and in the audio play it’s assumed she meets a Doctor regeneration from the future we have not met yet. No relation to any other Who Jenny’s (the Doctor Daughter nor Jenny Flint).


	5. Chapter 5

They sat in the conference room together. Martha stood by the white board.

“It’s weird though,” said Martha. “Who knows enough about the Doctor to even do this.” 

“The Companions they picked are kind of weird too. Like they’re going after the D Listers,” said Mickey. 

“What do you mean?” asked Martha. 

“Well think about it. Sarah Jane’s known the Doctor a really long time, through multiple lifetimes. She does her whole Earth defending deal, has a talking computer, and even the tin dog. Proper A Lister. Probably who some people think of when you even say ‘Companion to the Doctor’, especially to the old timers in UNIT. 

And then you’ve got someone like, say, Jo Jones. Jo is a big time environmentalist that plopped around the Doctors during his UNIT days and travels across the world. Again, a lot of the old timers probably all know Jo. A List. 

Martha hasn’t been targeted yet, despite the fact that she was a darling of UNIT, is a known Torchwood associate, and probably one of the most brilliant alien experts on the planet. And I feel like I can say without much bias that she's pretty darn A List. 

And then finally there’s Captain Cheesecake over here. Man is blasted across every alien conspiracy website, he’s the face of Torchwood and we all know Torchwood is the worst kept secret in Wales.” 

He looked at Gwen and Ianto before adding, “No offense.” 

“Yeah, yeah we know,” and “Unfortunately aware of that,” they muttered at the same time. 

“But the point is they don’t go after him. Or any of them. They go after some old lady from America that met the Doctor  _ once _ .” 

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I think Mickey Mouse has a point,” said Jack. “Gwen was saying earlier the file on Jenny Wilson was like four sentences long, and couldn’t even agree on which version she traveled with.” 

“In Jack’s specific case they might have known why targeting him wouldn’t have worked exactly, especially if they had the resources to find these people in the first place,” said Gwen. “But I think we might be onto something.”

“Maybe they were trying to be discreet about it,” said Martha. “Go after the right people to get, I don’t know, some kind of revenge, without attracting the powers that be.” 

“The only problem with that theory is Cardiff,” said Gwen. “If they were trying to be discreet then why wouldn’t they have just offed Cassie in New Mexico? Made it look like someone tried robbing her or she had a car accident?”

That’s true,” said Ianto. “Why go through the trouble of bringing her halfway across the world? She was specifically killed the day she was supposed to be sightseeing here.” 

Gwen stopped for a second. Her eyes went wide. “Wait.” Her mouth began to open some as she pieced an idea together. “They’re not the target of revenge. They’re messages.” 

“What do you mean, Gwen?” said Jack. 

“Think about it. A body of a Companion shows up in Cardiff. Who’s in Cardiff? Another one shows up in Ealing. And who’s in Ealing? And the elusive Martha Jones just so happens to stop home for tea and a body shows up a block away from her mother’s house?” 

Everybody was quiet for a second as the pieces fell together. Ianto was the first to voice what had just been worked out in everyone’s heads. “FUCK.” 


	6. Chapter 6

Jack gave the order. “Gwen, Call Sarah Jane and tell her what we’ve worked out. Ianto, dip into the emergency funds so we can offer to send her, the kids and their families, and anyone else we can think of the hell out of dodge. Safe house...somewhere that’s not on this continent.” 

“Lottery vacations. Always a cover up,” said Ianto. “I’ll get the forms ready.” 

“And I need a suspect list, people. Who the hell is doing this and what’s the motive?” 

Mickey paced a bit “I don’t know mate, but someone’s done their homework. UNIT grunt maybe, with some kind of bone to pick?” 

Martha clicked her tongue. “It’d explain how they knew Will, and how to find us all. But most UNIT officers love the Doctor.” 

“Yep. They’re his bloody fan club over there,” said Ianto. 

Gwen looked thoughtful. “What about former Torchwood One personele?” 

She could feel Ianto’s cringe at the words across the table. She shot a sympathetic look at him; he was trying to avoid her gaze. She got it, incredibly painful memories, but they needed to have as complete a suspect pool as possible.

“There’s what, twenty or so survivors?” asked Martha. She also shot Ianto a sympathetic look he wouldn’t meet. 

Jack crossed his arms on the table. “I don’t exactly keep full tabs on them, but I do have the list. Trust me, if any of them were up to something like this I would know. But okay fine, for the time being they’re considered suspects. Ianto, did you happen to know anyone that was particularly overzealous about the Doctor hate and all the For the Empire bullshit over there?” 

“Aside from Yyvone Hartman herself? That would be a big no. A lot of personnel had no idea what we were even doing aside from research and filing…and for the most part I haven’t heard from anyone in a long time. Ran into Martin Lyles from R & D at Tesco one time last year and he’d asked me how Lisa was.”

Gwen was the one cringing now. Poor lamb; that had to have been a rather painful encounter.

Jack looked thoughtful. “We’re still not abandoning the UNIT grunt theory by the way. They’re a large enough organization that someone thinking against the grain about their beloved scientific advisor isn’t impossible by the numbers alone.” 

“Which means the suspect list is already too long,” said Martha. 

“What if it was another Companion?” asked Ianto. All eyes were on him. 

“Impossible,” said Jack. “No one that traveled with the Doctor would do this.” 

“So we’re just supposed to pretend he didn’t leave the three time travelers at this table with a massive inferiority complex each then.” 

Jack looked at his boyfriend seriously. “A bit uncalled for Ianto.” 

“But true. For all you go on about Himself and the lovely travels you’ve all had, I have a bit of a bone to pick with how he treated you. Maybe he just did that to the wrong person and they snapped.” 

Jack and Martha both did not meet his eyes. But Mickey chuckled a bit. 

“Honestly I’m on Ianto’s side here. No one’s saying the Doctor’s not a great bloke and hasn’t saved our butts one hundred times over. But he can definitely screw up when it comes to people. I’ve been on the receiving end of it enough to know.” 

Gwen bit her lip a bit. Jack always talked reverently about the Doctor. Martha as well. But she’d been able to fill enough gaps to support that what Mickey said was true. She was pretty sure the Doctor had outright avoided Jack for well over a century, and hadn’t always treated Martha like the brilliant woman Gwen knew her to be. She’d heard all three of the time travelers present use Sarah Jane’s name as a verb to mean “the Doctor randomly dropping someone in a suburb after he’s done with them.” And then maybe a touch of unrequited love on both Jack and Martha’s side played a part in their reverence (not that she’d dare bring that bit up with Ianto and Mickey in the room). 

“Look, even if there was someone like that, the files are rubbish.” said Gwen finally speaking up. “If there’s a rogue element ex-time traveler running around then there’s a really good chance we don’t know about it.” 

The others looked between themselves trying to decide what to do. “Like I said, too many suspects,” declared Martha. 

“Then we have a lot of files to shift through,” said Jack. “Let’s just hope no one else shows up dead in the meantime.”


	7. Chapter 7

They split up the work, it truly was a lot of tedious files to sort through. Well, not tedious. The more complete files had some interesting stories that could rival even some of Jack’s yarns. Unfortunately, those weren’t the ones they were meant to be spending significant time on. It was suspected companions with little more than a name attached to them, an honestly rather bleak list of Torchwood One survivors, and a list of UNIT officers and personnel that had received official reprimands. 

“Sergeant Jones, Hannah reprimanded for handling alien artifacts without gloves. Brigadier Jones, Zachariah. Reprimanded for instigating a sexual relationship with an alien visitor. Sergent Jones-Reynolds, Mary reprimanded for sexual harassment of a superior officer...UNIT gives out official reprimands for things we do a disturbingly regular basis,” declared Ianto. “And none of these scream inciting murderous rage.” 

Gwen laughed. “Skipped right to the Jones did you?” 

Ianto fondly rolled his eyes. “There’s a lot of us, Mrs.  _ Williams” _ , he said emphasizing the married name she very deliberately did not take for that reason (among others). After a second he added “find anything?”

“Not really. Dr. Grace Halloway might be worth poaching if Martha keeps putting Jack’s job offer off. American, but I won’t hold it against her.”

Ianto chuckled “She and Jack can bond over not being able to pronounce the Welsh ‘ll’ correctly with the accent.”

“Add this Teagan woman from Australia to the list and we can have a full international team.”

“Ohhh international team of mystery. I like it.” 

Gwen laughed. “You would. Ianto I’m for bringing up…”

“It’s fine…you’re right... they’re suspects. It still stings but it’s...necessary, isn’t it? I don’t want to believe it’s any of them but well, it could be. Just like it could be any of the thousands of UNIT recruits in these files. Which it sounds useless when you say it like that, doesn’t it?” 

Gwen sighed “A bit, yeah.” 

“I swear I’m not mad, at you or Martha, for bringing it up just...maybe...a little...worried about Jack and well  _ everything _ .” 

Gwen opened her mouth, but before she could examine that little bout of an almost emotional confession, Ianto had true to form, quickly changed the subject. 

“Look at this one. Sergeant Leeroy, Jenkins...that cannot be a real name (even if it is reversed)...disciplined for drawing devil ears on a portrait of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Dr. Shaw, and the Doctor’s third regeneration. That’s the closest to actively being against the Doctor I’ve found.”

“What do you mean about the name being reversed?”

“That’s a trap that ends in me explaining World of War Craft to you.” 

Gwen laughed. Ianto continued to read aloud from the list. 

“Private Kripkie, Devin...reprimanded for, oh.” Ianto was quiet for a second before muttering something that sounded distinctly like “burn in hell.” 

“Ianto what‘s...oh.”

_ Private Kripkie, Devin reprimanded for wanton cruelty in handling prisoners Applegate, Edward, Gupta, Anika, Hope, Jessica, Johnson, Derek, and Sato, Toshiko.  _

“Hell sounds too good for him,” said Gwen. 

“Sometimes it feels like there’s two UNITs,” said Ianto. “There’s the Doctor’s UNIT where everyone is awe of the universe and then there’s the UNIT of today. That did...that. Torchwood is well, a mess, even on a good day. But at least we’re consistent about it. And we’re not...” 

“I know you’ve got your issues with the Doctor, but there’s no way he’d approve of people like that in his organization...what they did to her…”

She trailed off.   


“I just can’t believe that’s just there. Given the same weight as touching an object without gloves and vandalizing a portrait on these lists,” said Ianto with an edge to his voice. 

Gwen added the name to the list. Anyone that could possibly hurt Tosh on purpose was deserving of being considered a murder suspect. 

Martha, Mickey, and Jack took that moment to renter the conference room. 

“How’s the list going?” 

“Slowly,” said Ianto after a breath, showing a very small list. 

Jack handed them a new list of names, all UNIT. “Add these too. They won’t be on the official records, but there’s a locked file we have attached to the list of people we’ve retconned in the past, code name Never Was. You can find them there.” Jack handed Ianto a flash drive. 

“Trust me they’re capable of this if threatened enough,” said Martha. “Maybe even worse.”

Jack turned to Gwen. “Gwen, how’s the Companion list coming?”

“Slow….oh I meant to ask though, what’s with the locked digital files? They’re on some kind of digital timer?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Every now and then we stumble upon future companions that haven’t met the Doctor in linear time yet — from our future, basically. If they don’t know the Doctor in 2009 in their personal timeline it gets locked until we catch up. I call it the No Spoilers function. UNIT does something similar.” 

Gwen’s phone rang. “Andy?”

Gwen looked distressed throughout the call. “There’s been another, ” she told them as she clicked the phone off. 


	8. Chapter 8

Tony Barker,” declared Martha as she read off the DNA scan results over the autopsy table. “What do we have on him?”

Ianto checked his PDA. “Another one with sparse records, but not the most bare we have. Apparently he met a man he called the Doctor or ‘Dr. Who’. Possibly because he didn’t know his surname, possibly because the Doctor decided to use it as an alias, who knows...no pun intended there. Anyways, he came across him while he was playing hide and seek as a child, along with his sister (said sister is now deceased). They claimed to have helped him fight giant spiders he called Ziligans and something called a sensorite. Later their parents didn’t believe them. Worked as an accountant after A Levels, and lived a pretty quiet life in adulthood. He moved to South Wales in retirement; he was a resident of a nearby care home.” 

Gwen looked at her own PDA. “Looks like it was the Doctor’s First regeneration he met from the description, elderly man with long white hair. Oh. There’s a similar story about a child not being believed about a Doctor sighting in the 90s. Something about her shed being destroyed by what seems to be the TARDIS. There’s more on her, but it’s triggering that ‘no spoiler’ future lock function” said Gwen. “Think it’s unrelated, aside from the similar thread of the Doctor having a soft spot for kids. Kind of interesting though.” 

“Yeah something to look forward to in the future, I guess,” said Jack. 

Martha scrunched her face in confusion. “There’s a DNA match that’s coming up,” said Martha. “A hair follicle that’s not Tony’s. It’s...that can’t be right.”

“Martha, what is it?” asked Gwen. 

“It’s saying it’s Sarah Jane’s.” 

“But that’s impossible. We know she hasn’t left Ealing yet,” said Jack. 

Ianto nodded. “The flights we got her and the kids aren’t for another day, and it’s been less than two hours since we sent her the information; I doubt she even had time to pitch the idea of a getaway to the kids yet, let alone their parents. And this man hasn’t left Cardiff since he became a resident of that care home.” 

Gwen leaned over the body, looking carefully at the hair sample between Martha’s medical kit tweezers.

“That hair sample is black, the same color as mine practically,” she said. “I’m pretty sure Sarah Jane’s is naturally that light brown color she has.”

“I’d believe Torchwood technology giving me a false positive,” said Martha. At Gwen, Ianto and Jack’s slightly offended looks she simply said “singularity scalpel” and they all immediately winced, conceding the point, “but this is my personal scanner. Nicked it from UNIT the day I left.” 

“And if nothing else UNIT tech would know Sarah Jane,” said Mickey. “She has tons of files with them. We need to call her. Maybe it’s a shape shifter of some kind that’s making themselves look like her.” 

“Maybe,” said Jack. It was clear from his expression he was thinking hard about what could have caused the result. 

Just then Jack’s phone rang. He glanced down at the caller ID. 

“Sarah Jane. We were literally about to call you…” Jack clicked the speaker on. 

“Change of plans,” said Sarah Jane. “Luke, Clyde, Rani, and Rani’s parents are going on that holiday to France you pulled out of thin air. I’m not. Two more retired UNIT officers were killed near Ealing, two days ago apparently, but they’ve just found the bodies. I had Mr. Smith hack into the crime scene details…both were found near writing saying ‘remember me’ over and over again. One in a note book. One,” she stopped and took a breath. “Well, one in the victim’s own blood.” 

“We’ve seen that kind of thing before in a past case, unfortunately,” said Gwen. She glanced at Jack. “And it was definitely someone trying to send us a message then.” 

“We haven’t found anything like that on any of the local victims though, or not yet anyways,” said Jack. “It’s strange.” 

“What’s strange,” said Sarah Jane, “is that I had Mr. Smith run hand writing analysis. There’s a match...and well, apparently the match is...me.”

Everyone stared. 

“Only I can say with confidence that even to a layman...that’s not my handwriting. The slants of the letter are all elongated in a way my primary school teachers would have pitched a fit over. And well, I can’t believe I have say it, but I certainly haven’t been planting murder notes in crime scenes. That is not my handwriting Captain Harkness, but for some reason, even Mr. Smith’s databanks seem to think it is.” 

With a gloved hand, Martha examined the corpse, searching for something in particular. She slid her hand into corpse’s side pocket, and pulled out a folded note. In a hasty sprawl of words it read: 

“REMEMBER ME DOCTOR” 


	9. Chapter 9

Three hours and one too long drive later, Ianto was greeting Sarah Jane at the tourist information desk. A particular blue metal dog was hot on her heels. 

“Nice to finally meet you in person,” he said. “Although I really wish the circumstances were different.” 

She gave him a wan smile. “Likewise.” 

The proximity alarm went off, and they entered through the cog wheel. Despite having seen the hub in the background of video calls before, and despite her previous adventures, Sarah Jane’s expression betrayed the fact she was impressed with it. Myfanwy the pterodactyl flying overhead certainty added to the effect. 

“Hey K9!” greeted Mickey with a grin just a little too wide for the otherwise grim mood of the current situation. 

“Salutations Master Mickey,” he greeted. 

Mickey felt himself beam a bit at the robot. 

Jack couldn’t help but tease him. “Oh hey! I do see the resemblance between you two.” Mickey shot him a dirty look. On the one hand he knew that Jack didn’t actually think he was the Tin Dog of the operation and he’d kind of walked into that, on the other, he wasn’t going to let Captain Cheesecake of all people get away with that dig entirely _.  _

“You brought your dog?” asked Gwen, face full of barely concealed confusion. 

“Of course I brought K9. He’s advanced, future technology with additional scanning capabilities. Also...he and Mr. Smith fight when I leave them alone. Conflict resolution is sometimes best achieved by conflict avoidance.” 

Gwen simply blinked. 

“Right then,” Sarah Jane continued, as they sat down in the conference room. Computer display was up. “Mr. Smith is running a handwriting analysis on these notes. He’s taken me out as a match, and is searching for anyone else across the UK that would be one.” 

Video footage of Mr. Smith’s analysis was fed to the Torchwood mainframe display in the conference room and everyone crowded around to look. The difference between the two handwriting samples on screen was instantly noticeable. 

“I don’t get it,” said Gwen. “It’s clearly not your handwriting, and that clearly wasn’t your DNA. But why are the systems so convinced they’re the same?” 

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s tried to frame me for something,” said Sarah Jane. “But it would be the first time they’ve been so blatantly obvious about it.”

“If this even is a frame up job,” said Mickey, “something seems off.”

Jacked nodded in agreement. “They wanted our attention. And apparently the Doctor’s…”

“And guess who’s still not answering his phone…” said Martha. 

“Maybe the answer is in Sarah Jane’s files?” asked Gwen. She turned to look at Sarah Jane. “If these new developments tell us anything it’s that this somehow involves you a bit more directly than we thought.” 

“Narrowing it down to just Sarah Jane’s files is more narrow than all of UNIT and everyone who’s ever had contact with the Doctor or knows about aliens at any rate,” said Ianto. “But still a lot to get through. And apparently highly confidential.” 

“I've been told my files have a higher security clearance than I do,” said Sarah Jane. “Without going to back channels I couldn’t look at them if I wanted to.” 

“I  _ did  _ have the clearance but...well freelance now,” said Martha, apologetically. 

“Hacking UNIT, fun for the whole family,” quipped Ianto. “We’ll get right on it. Most of the files that reference the Doctor have already been hacked so it’s really more like referencing the data we’ve already retrieved.” 

The display on the monitor linking to Mr. Smith’s feed changed, indicating that the Zylock computer wanted their attention. “The handwriting, with Sarah Jane’s name and UNIT systems removed, is a 99.789 percent match for the records of an individual named Joan Brown, age 55. Citizen of London, England, United Kingdom,” said Mr. Smith. 

“Joan Brown, companion to the Doctor,” said K9 suddenly. They all looked down at the little metal dog.

“My data does not support that she was a Companion,” said Mr. Smith. 

“Sorry uh...K9,” said Gwen. “But a quick check of Torchwood’s digital files isn’t bringing up anything about a companion with that name.” 

“As I said. There is no data supporting this,” said Mr. Smith, in a voice that seemed strangely condescending for a computer, and clearly directed at the robotic dog. 

“My recollection is not incorrect,” said K9, with an equally tetchy bent to his voice. “Joan Brown, Companion to the Doctor.” 

“Wait. Hold on,” said Jack. “Mr. Smith, see if you can cross reference Joan Brown and UNIT.” 

“Sarah Jane?” asked the computer. 

“Do it,” she confirmed. 

The computer spoke up almost a bit sheepishly. “I’ve found a security breach report, for an individual named Joan Brown on UNIT property,” said Mr. Smith. “She…”

“Yes, Mr. Smith?” 

“She approached UNIT property without proper credentials and demanded a job with them. She claimed to be a former companion of the Doctor and UNIT associate, particularly under General Maxwell-Lenon. UNIT had no record of her or the events she described involving her. They told her to leave, believing her to be a fraud, at which point she struck a guard across the face in frustration and UNIT attempted to take her into custody. She got back into her car and escaped from the premises. UNIT decided not to pursue her and she was never seen on premises again. The incident report was dated 7 September 2004.” 

“Joan Brown, Companion to the Doctor,” K9 repeated. It was still in the same monotone inflection, but somehow seemed to have a victorious bent to it. 

“Hang on,” said Ianto. “What were the exact events Joan described?”

“Stopping an alien gas from nearly suffocating the human race, believed to have originated from a dying planet,” said Mr. Smith. “Before it was successfully stopped it was believed the gas would cause the end of the human race, not unlike the more recent Atmos incident. The incident was blamed on the Zirconian, and would have taken place in 1974 or 1984, depending on UNIT dating protocol used. She described the Doctor as being in his fourth regeneration.”

Sarah Jane blinked. “My Doctor. I traveled with him in the Fourth and Third regenerations.” 

Ianto furiously typed into his PDA. “Those files we hacked have brought up a match. Only the events are attributed to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Sarah Jane Smith, with the assistance of the Third Doctor. According to UNIT, those events happened, but Joan wasn’t the one that saved the day. Sarah Jane was.” 

Sarah Jane blanched. “Only, I’m certain that I wasn’t.” 


	10. Chapter 10

We did lots of traveling back and forth to UNIT,” said Sarah Jane, “but the way that gas cloud was described. Surely I’d remember that. It sounds horrific.” 

“Are you absolutely sure?” asked Jack. 

“I might be getting older but I’m not going senile. And you’re certainly one to talk.” 

Jack put his hands up in a defensive gesture. 

“It would be cross listed in the Brig’s files too...Mr. Smith?” 

“Yes Sarah Jane?” 

“Cross reference Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart’s files and my own in regards to this incident.” 

“Yes, Sarah Jane.” 

“It seems there is a filing anomaly. The system believes Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was in two places at once. There’s the incident as Joan described it, but with Sarah Jane and the Brigadier in the place of Joan and the General in her account,” said Mr. Smith. “But there’s another file that suggests the Brigadier was off that day — with his daughter who had been in A & E with a broken arm.”

Ianto clicked his PDA. “Medical records confirm one Kate S. Lethbridge-Stewart broke her arm on the monkey bars at school that day.” 

“Now search General Maxwell-Lennon,” said Jack to the computer. 

“General Maxwell-Lennon retired in 2003, after a long career within UNIT. He made a rather scathing indictment of some of UNIT’s new protocols at the time, and their treatment of criminals in their custody— although the indictment doesn’t appear in his file and is only mentioned in a daily report. There seems to be missing digitized reports...quite a lot in fact. I would go so far as to say most of his career is missing.”

“There’s an archivist note here in his file,” said Ianto. It’s that same thing about an issue digitizing his files with the old dating system. But hmm, I wonder…What was the date of that ‘scathing indictment’ of UNIT mentioned on the report?”

“He denounced the organization on 28 December 2003.”

“Just a few days before he retired. I think I get what’s going on here” said Ianto. 

“Care to tell the rest of class?” asked Mickey. “Because frankly I’m a little lost. What so, did Joan know the Doctor and this General, or didn’t she? And if she did, why are the files mixed up in Sarah Jane’s and the Brigadier’s.” 

“Joan Brown Companion to the Doctor,” K9 repeated once again. 

“I think we got that, K9,” said Jack. 

“This is what happens when UNIT files are the way they are,” said Ianto. “This is about using archiving...for evil. So let’s say there’s a mix up UNIT dating protocol? Some files related to the General go the wrong place, and they don’t get digitized because no one can find them. It might have been innocent at first, just a mix up with the paperwork because of that weird dating system they keep,” said Ianto. “Stuff that should be in 1974 showing up in 1984 and the like. It’s hard to digitize files when the systems are inconsistent across the board; I run into everyday here. But then the General spoke up and said something the rest of the UNIT brass didn’t want to hear. That UNIT was straying from its scientific mission and that it was getting downright cruel in its dealings. But the man that said it is retiring, and his files, well his files are already an archival mess.” 

“And then someone used their weird filing system as a way of burying the fact one of their own thought they were getting away from their mission,” said Gwen catching on. “So they buried him in a sea of bureaucracy...they never digitized most of his files on purpose.” 

“Exactly. And the bit about the Brigadier’s files being doubled up? I bet that’s because they went a step further. They threw some random reports of Maxwell-Lennon’s in with higher profile UNIT consultants and officers, like Sarah Jane and Lethbridge-Stewart. Whose files are almost never going to be opened because almost no one has the proper credentials to see them. It’s like Sarah Jane said, she doesn’t even have access to her old reports anymore. The result: wires got crossed. Everything relating to Maxwell-Lennon got thrown into Sarah Jane’s or Lethbridge-Stewart’s file. Which meant if he was Joan’s main point of contact, everything related to Joan got thrown there. Including Joan’s handwriting samples and DNA.

As far as the computer systems and digital archives are concerned Joan  _ is  _ Sarah Jane. And that’s why UNIT has no record of her — and why we kept getting those false positives. If you search anything on Joan, handwriting, DNA, history, the UNIT files, what have you, it redirects to Sarah Jane. Joan got erased. Because someone used that mix up with the paperwork as a convenient reason to cover up an indictment against the organization,” said Ianto. 

“What else do we have on Joan Brown?” asked Jack. “Her civilian life after UNIT and the Doctor?” 

“She was evicted from her home in 1999,” said Gwen, typing furiously. “She worked a string of temporary jobs mostly at computing firms, before working retail — never in the same position for more than a few months. Employment and public assistance records ended about four years ago. Although her bank accounts are still active — and have seen a strange amount of activity. Small transfer of money from multiple accounts.” 

“Joan Brown was evicted,” said Ianto. “She went to UNIT for employment assistance and they treated her like a nutter when she insisted she was affiliated with them. Because they had no record of her. She spent her life bouncing from temp job to temp job, and then snaps. Four years ago we see bank activity —well four years ago the Doctor starts being pretty obvious again, doesnt he? All those Christmas light shows? And that’s when she starts planning on a way to see the Doctor again. For everyone to notice her.” 

“Joan’s DNA and handwriting were on the bodies,” said Martha. “So you think her plan…”

Jack crossed his arms. “As much as I don’t want to think a friend of the Doctor is capable of all this...she did it. That’s what the evidence says. And now we have to find her before she can find her next victim. Or before she escalates things and makes her next victim one of us.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joan Brown and Maxwell-Lennon are characters that has appeared in one issue of the 70s Doctor Who comics story Doomcloud. Depending on if you got the story in reprints or not, the story either features Sarah Jane and the Brigadier, or Joan Brown and Maxwell-Lennon (they were redrawn and edited during the rerelease). 
> 
> I hope the explanation I had Ianto give about the in-universe reason for why there’s two accounts of the same event makes sense story-wise. 
> 
> Shout out to everyone in the Torchwood Coffee Talk server for encouraging me when I was debating taking the story in this direction. You all rock.


	11. Chapter 11

Gwen’s phone buzzed as they tried to come up with a starting point. Paper files were open and tossed about around the hub, as Mickey and Ianto clacked furiously at some laptops. 

Gwen looked at the caller ID “Kathy Swanson,” she said. “This might be another one.” 

“Kathy’s a local Detective Inspector, we deal with her a lot,” Ianto told Sarah Jane and the others. “If she’s calling us direct there’s a good chance there’s trouble.” 

Gwen took the call on the other side of the hub floor. The others watched as she paced, and her face grew more animated with concern as she talked. When she completed the call she frantically leapt to the other side of the hub as quickly as she could. 

“Jack we have to go, now!” she announced. “It’s Andy!” 

Jack looked at her. “PC Andy? I thought you were talking to Kathy.”

“I was talking to Kathy. Jack, Andy’s been kidnapped, right off the beat. A rookie Andy was showing around, PC Ryder, got a look at the attacker before she knocked him out. Right age. Right description. I think it’s Joan.” 

“What is your colleague’s full name?” asked Mr. Smith’s voice from the display. 

“Andrew Davison. Police Constable Andy Davidson. He’s my ex-partner on the force, and one of our go to police contacts. Always good for a tip off, Andy is.” 

“My records show mention of a Sergeant Andy Davidson in the 1960s, a companion to the Doctor’s eighth self.” 

“What, no, common name,” said Jack. “Andy’s not a Sergeant.”

“Well not yet,” said Mickey. “But uhhh...Time travel. Maybe he will be?”

“No. He’s...Andy. I don’t know what else to say but...no. Maybe she’s using him to get our attention because he knows about Torchwood but he’s not...he wouldn’t be…” 

“Look Jack, regardless if you think Andy is important enough to get invited into your little club one day or not, he’s in trouble. This woman is deadly, and I for one, am not going to be able to forgive myself if he dies because of Torchwood and aliens and all the crap we’ve dragged him into!” shouted Gwen. “Now get moving to the SUV so we can find him and find Joan before she…”

“We’ll find Andy, Gwen,” Jack assured. 

“If she didn’t chuck his mobile we can track it,” said Ianto. “ I’m pulling up the tracking software right now...looks like the warehouse district on the other side of the bay.” 

“Okay,” said Jack. “Everyone move out.” 

Everyone ran to Torchwood’s underground car park, where the SUV sat. K9 was shoved in the boot, and Sarah Jane kept contact with Mr. Smith over her watch. There were six adults and five seats, the arrangement was cramped and probably against several traffic laws. There was too much adrenaline running through everyone for any of the passengers to stop and think about how uncomfortable it was. 

Sarah Jane took out her mobile and attempted a call. In rang five times before the beep of the voicemail. 

“Luke, I love you. Stay inside with Rani and Clyde until I get home, alright? I’ll see you soon.” 

She breathed. 

“Voicemail. Right they’re probably just playing video games. Or something. And Luke breaks his mobile at least once a month. Maybe he broke again. Just due to normal teenaged clumsiness this time. Not running from ex- time travelers or…”

“Sarah Jane,” Mr. Smith’s voice spoke. “Luke is still in Ealing. I have the location of his mobile.” 

She breathed again. “Right well, yes, he would be…” 

Beside her Martha put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

“Speaking of tracking mobiles, Left!” Ianto directed. “We should be there soon...sharp right here.”

Jack rotated the steering wheel as far right as it would go. The passengers in the car all felt themselves jerked to the side. 

“This should be the place,” announced Ianto. The warehouse district loomed in front of them. 

There was a sharp skid of the tires as Jack stopped short. In the back seat everyone felt themselves jolted forward. 

“Alright,” said Jack. “Before we go in, I have a plan…”


	12. Chapter 12

Andy Davidson found himself awake on cold concrete. A dark room, industrial looking walls. The smell of a water leakage from broken pipes, neglect, or some combination thereof. He was tied to an old piece of industrial equipment, the original purpose of which he had no idea. 

His first thought was to call for help. Call for PC Ryder, the poor kid had to have been scared out of his mind if he was here. But Andy didn’t see anyone else at first. Until a figure emerged from the darkness. Dark hair and in the later half of years that could be called “middle aged”, a short woman stood there with her hands on her hips. 

“Ma’am, are you all right?” he asked. 

She pointed a gun at him. 

“Oh Balls.” 

“Andy Davidson,” she said. “You’re here because of the Doctor.” 

“The Doctor? Doctor Who?”

“That’s a cute bit. But  _ don’t  _ lie to me.” 

“I’m telling you! I have no idea who that is!”

“Doctor. Time traveler. Alien with two hearts.” 

“Doesn’t particularly ring any bells, but look. I shouldn’t tell you about this. But There are these people. They’re called ‘Torchwood’...’”

“Shut up about Bloody Torchwood!” 

“Ahhh met them, have you? Yeah…rage, annoyance, they do tend to have that effect on people, don’t they?” 

“Shut up, I know you’ve traveled with him!” 

“I really, really haven’t.” 

“Do. Not. Lie. To. Me.” 

“Well, uhhhh...if it’s time travel, wasn’t it (sure, why not, makes about as much sense as anything else Torchwood messes about in)...isn’t there a chance I haven’t done it yet?” 

She seemed to consider his words. And then smiled slightly. “Oh but that would fix it, wouldn’t it? I hurt a fixed point, change something I shouldn’t. Damage a closed loop. He’d be here. He’d come for me. Come to fix what was broken. I’d get to see him again. “

She pulled the gun to Andy’s head. 

There was a click as she prepared, and the safety came off. And that was when Jack entered, followed by Sarah Jane. Joan spun around and pointed the gun at the pair of time travelers instead. 

“Nobody moves! I’m armed and I will shoot.” 

“Joan Brown,” said Jack. 

Sarah Jane stood in front of Joan, her Sonic ready to disrupt the gun if she could get a fix on it. 

“ _ You,” _ spat Joan as she looked at Sarah. “You took my place. The records say it was you.” She spat. “It should have been me! I did that, and my place in history is the forgotten companion who wasn’t Sarah!” 

“Joan,” Jack said. He was doing his best to keep his voice as even as possible. “The Doctor left me. On purpose. I waited so long for him to tell me what had happened, and when I finally found him he told me I was  _ wrong.  _ And I was tortured for an entire year for the effort on top of it. I’m sorry he never came back for you, and I’m sorry things went the way did. But things weren’t easy for me. I know okay, I know what it’s like to be left and forgotten.”

“No you don’t! No you  _ fucking _ don’t. Every day you get to put on that flash coat in your secret base and be reminded that it was real! There’s a secret and you’re in on it!” 

“Joan, listen to me,” said Sarah Jane. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that you were overlooked. The Doctor saw something wonderful in you, and it has to still be there. We tried to dig up the rest of your file. And we read about a brilliant young lady that didn’t want to see a planet of people die. Who cared so much about life that she’d rather die helping a doomed planet than live on without trying. Please, Joan. Stop this. Put the gun down. You can still walk out of this.” 

“You have everything I should!” she shouted. “The posh job, the big house, the loving son, the side gig saving the world with the Doctor’s blessing. It was supposed to be me, and you get all of it!” 

“And I’m sorry Joan. I’m so, so sorry. But for years I didn’t. For years I struggled to find work because...how do you explain you were traveling through time when you should have been filing more stories? And for years I was just...in stasis. Waiting for adventure to find me again. Waiting for him to come back to me. When I ran into the Doctor again...it was by sheer chance, Joan. Not by some fate of the universe, not because it was my destiny. By sheer dumb chance, and the fact I  _ chose  _ to investigate the school he was looking into. For myself. We make our own path in the Universe. I’m forgoing my own adventures now. The universe is wonderful and vast but there’s still so much here on Earth! It’s not too late. Everyone here, the work they do. They’re doing it because they believe in it. They believe they can help people.” 

“I thought I was good enough not to be forgotten! Good enough to be someone other than Not-Sarah! And what do I have to show for it! I lost my house, my job, UNIT and Torchwood treat me like some kind of nutter!”

Martha entered, Mickey behind her. Martha joined the others while Mickey untied Andy, and mouthed instructions to  _ run _ while Joan was distracted.

“If he comes I see him again! I get my chance. I know it was all real and it was all me; if he comes to help his precious Golden children. And if he doesn’t...well I proved my point, didn’t I? I die with the rest of them. The rest of the footnotes that got discarded!” 

“No one that died, no one that you murdered, was a footnote, Joan. Maybe in our records, but they all saved the world, the universe, in their own ways!” 

“You as good as killed me,” she told her. 

Sarah Jane tried to angle her lipstick canister a certain way, towards Joan’s gun. Joan brandished the gun more directly towards her. 

“I know that’s a sonic. God, he gave you your own bloody sonic. You really are the Golden child. Put it down. Put it down now! And your gun, Captain Flash. I know you’re packing. Kick it over! Now!” 

Jack put his hands over his head, and compiled, kicking his Webley over to her. 

“We understand,” said Jack. “I understand! I know that we both got to keep defending the Earth. But we both know what’s it's like to be to just be left off.” 

Joan scoffed. “It wasn’t just the UNIT records. He would slip up sometimes. Call me Sarah, because he forgot she wasn’t still there. I was never good enough from the start. And then I saved the world,  only to be told I did none of it. That it wasn’t real. You got to keep going, and I lost everything. After UNIT turned me away , I went to your Torchwood. In London. Your precocious Torchwood with my story. I knew they hated the Doctor. I thought they’d want me after UNIT spurned me. They wouldn’t even let me past the front desk. I wasn’t even worth drugging with one of their little amnesia pills. I was less than nothing to them.” 

Joan turned her attention off of Sarah Jane and Jack, having caught movement in the back of her eye. She turned around and noticed Andy missing from his spot, and Martha and Mickey in near the industrial garage doors in his place. 

“Oh you two. Lovely. Guns. Kick them over. You know the drill. Doctor Doo Gooder may or may not have one, but I bet her little boytoy does. And you,” she said closing the gap in space between herself and Martha. You! Contact him. I know you can contact him!” 

“Okay,” said Martha in a placading voice. “Okay. I’m dialing the number. It’s ringing.” 

Joan held the gun, her hand shaking. 

“Now,” Martha spoke into the phone. 

Gwen and Ianto took the cue, appearing behind Joan, having entered from the back door. Gwen brandished her gun holding it to Joan’s head from behind. 

“I never traveled through time, me,” she said. “My enigmatic time traveler figure taught me how to shoot.” 

Ianto made quick use of Joan’s distraction at the statement to hit her with his stun gun. Joan’s gun feel to ground as she lost consciousness. 

Before she did she simply whimpered. “I just wanted to be remembered.” 


	13. Chapter 13

Joan was on the other side of the bulletproof glass in the Torchwood holding cells. She’d stirred but still appeared out of it, and hadn’t reacted yet to her surroundings. Least of all the pair of time travelers watching her. 

“With all due respect Captain,” said Sarah Jane “I think I hate your cells.”   
  


Jack watched himself in the reflection of the glass. 

“Well she’s here. We took her alive, that’s got to count for something.” 

“She needs help,” said Sarah. 

“Yeah...I just don’t think any of us are qualified to give it to her. And she’s not exactly blameless. In less than a week Joan Brown managed what some serial killers only dream of—I think we can both agree this was beyond premeditated. That was a lot of bodies, we can’t ignore that completely.” 

“No. We can’t. The surviving families deserve the closure.” Sarah Jane sagged her shoulders. “But what now?” 

“We turn the evidence over (after we finish detangling the DNA evidence from roping back to you), we call in some favors with UNIT and the Cardiff police to get her into psychiatric. Only problem is the shrink wouldn’t believe the time travel part either…” 

“UNIT has to have at least one halfway decent therapist on staff that can work with her. They’ve grown as an organization so much since my day,” said Sarah Jane. 

“And if anything I think we’ve proved they’re marred with more corruption than Torchwood at its worst. And believe me, that’s saying something.”

“UNIT was good,” said Sarah. “They had their issues but UNIT, my UNIT, their hearts were in the right place. I hate knowing what’s become of them.”

“People make an organization,” said Jack. “Change from the inside. The right person in at the top, maybe they can still course correct.” 

“I have heard rumors Kate Lethbridge-Stewart is up for promotion again,” said Sarah Jane. “She might be up for that challenge eventually...”

Jack inched closer to the cell, watching its inhabitant just a bit more closely. “There’s another option for Joan. Or two other options. I have...well, there’s an island. Flat Holm. We have a hospital staffed with psychiatric and nurses that tend to the severe cases of rift refugees that come back through unrecognizable. We could put her there. She’d get help...but the nurses aren’t jailers. But then we couldn’t exactly tell the families we caught the killer. And maybe even more importantly, I don’t want to place her somewhere she could be a risk to the other patients.”

“And what's the third option?” 

“Retcon. She forgets. She forgets she did this. But she also forgets the Doctor and being forgotten. She gets a reset. She forgets the pain but she also doesn’t know the things she saw in the first place.” 

“Torchwood...it’s still not my style Jack. The only good choice I feel I made during all this was keeping Luke home and away from it.”

“Speaking of that kid of yours, the holiday's still good if you want it. Paid for by crown and country. Spend some mother-son time together.”

“I’ll admit that’s rather tempting,” said Sarah Jane. 

“I think all of us can use a break after this,” said Jack. “You literally do not want to know how much unused holiday time Ianto has.”

Sarah Jane looked between the cell and Jack. “What’s bothering you, Jack?” 

Jack felt his shoulders sag. “It’s what you said about people making up an organization. I need more people on my staff. Martha and Mickey have fobbed my job offer so many times I think they’re actually serious about not wanting it. And Gwen and Ianto have been run thin. Heck, Gwen’s husband is a civilian and even he’s been running interference for us from time to time. I don’t know how long we can keep at this. But I don’t want the next person I hire to end up like Joan. To believe so strongly in the universe and then turn their back on it when they start to feel like it’s not worth it.”

“I can understand that,” said Sarah Jane. “I still can’t believe it was a companion that did this…” 

Jack was suddenly very interested in the concrete. “Yeah…” 

Sarah Jane shot him a half smile. “The Doctor is still such a wonderful source of  _ good  _ and I know you still believe that too.”

“I do,” admitted Jack. “Despite everything, I know the Doctor is good. That he saves not just the universe, but people. Although with everything...and well, me. It hurts. Sometimes I wonder if he thinks...well, if he thinks he should have just let me die the day we met. Or what he even saw in me in the first place.” 

“I think he saw a young man that decided to atone for the sins of his past, he was going to bare the weight of the universe on his shoulders alone. You need to stop being so hard on yourself Jack. Like I said, Torchwood, it’s not my style, but no one’s arguing that you don’t do everything you can to try and do good.”

“Hate the methods, love the man?”

“Something like that. Gwen. Ianto. Even Mickey and Martha when they pop in. You’ve got people Hold onto them.”

“I plan on it.”

Sarah Jane continued to watch Joan’s movement. “Not retcon,” she said. “She needs to live with what she did. She may have been hurting, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel awful for her, but she needs to live with the consequences. She started this all because she felt she lost touch with reality, what she knew was true. Taking that away from her completely won’t help. It’d just be denying her reality even more. It just seems...exceptionally cruel in this case.” 

“I agree,” said Jack. 

Sarah Jane looked at Joan. “Next time the world is in crisis, there’s a chance we'll be handling it all on our own. The Doctor didn’t come this time.”

“No. He didn’t,” said Jack. He watched Joan blink at nothing. “Just us. Saving the day.” 

“Quite. But we did do it, save the day in the end. And that at the end of the day, is why we keep doing it.” 

Jack offered his arm, and walked her away from the cells. 

* * *

Jack found Ianto on the rooftop.

“I think you got it reversed,” said Jack, coming up the staircase. “You’re supposed to find  _ me,  _ up here.” 

“Ah yes well, role reversal. It’s good from time to time.” 

Jack took Ianto’s hand and began tracing circles. 

They stayed like that for a second until the click of the stairs, and there was a pointed cough. 

“No one’s stripping for all Cardiff to see up here, it’s fine you can come up,” Ianto called, without bothering to see who it was. 

“You say that…” said Gwen. She crossed the opera house roof, to sit down next to them. 

“Andy’s been retconned for today’s events,” she said. “I don’t like it, but…” 

“But on the off chance Joan told him his future we can’t risk messing with the timeline,” Jack finished for her. 

“I might have...exaggerated a few facts for Kathy’s benefit and said he heroically tried to apprehend the suspect before hitting his head,” said Gwen. 

Ianto snorted, breaking out into an open smile. 

“Also before he blacked out, Andy indicated he very much still wants a job,” said Gwen. 

“Funny you should mention that,” said Jack. “I was just having a chat with Sarah Jane about how we need more people. But maybe people that aren’t Andy…” 

Gwen opened her mouth in protest. 

“He may or may not have a great career as a Sergeant ahead of him,” said Jack. “We need at least one good person in the force.” 

“We need a medic,” said Ianto. “If Joan had shot any of us, and if that plan hadn’t worked, we’d be screwed. I hate the thought of someone else being in Owen’s medical bay, someone else that isn’t Martha at any rate, but it’s time.” 

Jack sat back. “I agree,” he took both Gwen and Ianto into a hug. The pair rested their heads on his shoulder. 

There was a click of the stairs again, as Martha, Mickey and Sarah Jane came up. K9, in an impressive display, hover mode-d his way up behind his mistress. 

“Much better view than the cells,” said Sarah Jane. “I didn’t realize people were allowed up here.”

Martha laughed. “They’re not. The Cardiff police just gave up telling Torchwood not to stalk the rooftops.” 

“We’re outside of the police, we can stalk where we want,” said Jack with a pout. Everyone laughed. 

The four new additions claimed spots along the rooftop’s edge. 

“Stars are coming out,” said Ianto. 

The other looked up at the surprisingly clear sky. 

“Which ones have you all been around then?” asked Gwen. 

“Well normally you don’t go to stars,” said Martha. “They’re like suns up close. But that one to the right, this one time…” 

Everyone stayed up on the rooftop watching the stars, contemplating the universe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. 
> 
> I decided to leave it ambiguous how exactly Joan will get help (aside from the fact they’re not retconning her), but indicate she will get some kind of help (be it flat holm or jail). 
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me through this story! And with that, I’ve met my self imposed deadline of finishing it by the new year (let’s just ignore the fact this was originally a Halloween challenge fic ;) ).


End file.
